From Trade to Territory
The Company Establishes Power
2
Aurangzeb was the last of the powerful Mughal rulers. He
established control over a very large part of the territory
that is now known as India. After his death in 1707,
many Mughal governors (subadars) and big zamindars
began asserting their authority and establishing regional
kingdoms. As powerful regional kingdoms emerged in
various parts of India, Delhi could no longer function as
an effective centre.
By the second half of the eighteenth century,
however, a new power was emerging on the political
horizon – the British. Did you know that the British
originally came as a small trading company and were
reluctant to acquire territories? How then did they come
to be masters of a vast empire? In this chapter you will
see how this came about.
Fig. 1 – Bahadur Shah Zafar
and his sons being arrested by
Captain Hodson
After Aurangzeb there was no
powerful Mughal ruler, but
Mughal emperors continued to
be symbolically important. In
fact, when a massive rebellion
against British rule broke out in
1857, Bahadur Shah Zafar, the
Mughal emperor at the time, was
seen as the natural leader. Once
the revolt was put down by the
company, Bahadur Shah Zafar
was forced to leave the kingdom,
and his sons were shot in
cold blood.
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10 OUR PASTS – III
East India Company
Comes East
In 1600, the East India
Company acquired a charter
from the ruler of England,
Queen Elizabeth I, granting
it the sole right to trade with
the East. This meant that
no other trading group in
England could compete with
the East India Company. With
this charter, the Company
could venture across the
oceans, looking for new lands
from which it could buy goods
at a cheap price, and carry them back to Europe to
sell at higher prices. The Company did not have to fear
competition from other English trading companies.
Mercantile trading companies in those days made profit
primarily by excluding competition, so that they could
buy cheap and sell dear.
The royal charter, however, could not prevent other
European powers from entering the Eastern markets.
By the time the first English ships sailed down the
west coast of Africa, round the Cape of Good Hope, and
crossed the Indian Ocean, the Portuguese had already
established their presence in the western coast of India,
and had their base in Goa. In fact, it was Vasco da
Gama, a Portuguese explorer, who had discovered this
sea route to India in 1498. By the early seventeenth
century, the Dutch too were exploring the possibilities
of trade in the Indian Ocean. Soon the French traders
arrived on the scene.
The problem was that all the companies were
interested in buying the same things. The fine qualities
of cotton and silk produced in India had a big market
in Europe. Pepper, cloves, cardamom and cinnamon
too were in great demand. Competition amongst the
European companies inevitably pushed up the prices
at which these goods could be purchased, and this
reduced the profits that could be earned. The only way
the trading companies could flourish was by eliminating
rival competitors. The urge to secure markets, therefore,
led to fierce battles between the trading companies.
Through the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries they
regularly sank each other’s ships, blockaded routes,
and prevented rival ships from moving with supplies of
Fig. 2 – Routes to India in the
eighteenth century
Mercantile – A business
enterprise that makes
profit primarily through
trade, buying goods
cheap and selling them at
higher prices
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goods. Trade was carried on with arms and trading posts
were protected through fortification.
This effort to fortify settlements and carry on profitable
trade also led to intense conflict with local rulers. The
company therefore found it difficult to separate trade from
politics. Let us see how this happened.
East India Company begins trade in Bengal
The first English factory was set up on the banks of
the river Hugli in 1651. This was the base from which
the Company’s traders, known at that time as “factors”,
operated. The factory had a warehouse where goods for
export were stored, and it had offices where Company
officials sat. As trade expanded, the Company persuaded
merchants and traders to come and settle near the factory.
By 1696, it began building a fort around the settlement.
Two years later, it bribed Mughal officials into giving the
Company zamindari rights over three villages. One of these
was Kalikata, which later grew into the city of Calcutta
or Kolkata as it is known today. It also persuaded the
Mughal emperor Aurangzeb to issue a farman granting
the Company the right to trade duty free.
The Company tried continuously to press for
more concessions and manipulate existing privileges.
Aurangzeb’s farman, for instance, had granted only the
Company the right to trade duty free. But officials of
the Company, who were carrying on private trade on
the side, were expected to pay duty. This they refused
to pay, causing an enormous loss of revenue for Bengal.
How could the Nawab of Bengal, Murshid Quli Khan,
not protest?
Fig. 3 – Local boats bring goods
from ships in Madras, painted by
William Simpson, 1867
Farman – A royal edict,
a royal order
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12 OUR PASTS – III
How trade led to battles
Through the early eighteenth century, the conflict between
the Company and the nawabs of Bengal intensified.
After the death of Aurangzeb, the Bengal nawabs
asserted their power and autonomy, as other regional
powers were doing at that time. Murshid Quli Khan
was followed by Alivardi Khan and then Sirajuddaulah
as the Nawab of Bengal. Each one of them was a strong
ruler. They refused to grant the Company concessions,
demanded large tributes for the Company’s right to
trade, denied it any right to mint coins, and stopped it
from extending its fortifications. Accusing the Company
of deceit, they claimed that the Company was depriving
the Bengal government of huge amounts of revenue and
undermining the authority of the nawab. It was refusing
to pay taxes, writing disrespectful letters, and trying to
humiliate the nawab and his officials.
The Company on its part declared that the unjust
demands of the local officials were ruining the trade of
the Company, and trade could flourish only if the duties
were removed. It was also convinced that to expand trade,
it had to enlarge its settlements, buy up villages, and
rebuild its forts.
The conflicts led to confrontations and finally culminated
in the famous Battle of Plassey.
The Battle of Plassey
When Alivardi Khan died in 1756, Sirajuddaulah became
the nawab of Bengal. The Company was worried about his
power and keen on a puppet ruler who would willingly
give trade concessions and other privileges. So it tried,
though without success, to help one of Sirajuddaulah’s
rivals become the nawab. An infuriated Sirajuddaulah
asked the Company to stop meddling in the political
affairs of his dominion, stop fortification, and pay the
revenues. After negotiations failed, the Nawab marched
with 30,000 soldiers to the English factory at Kassimbazar,
captured the Company officials, locked the warehouse,
disarmed all Englishmen, and blockaded English ships.
Then he marched to Calcutta to establish control over the
Company’s fort there.
On hearing the news of the fall of Calcutta,
Company officials in Madras sent forces under the
command of Robert Clive, reinforced by naval fleets.
Prolonged negotiations with the Nawab followed. Finally,
in 1757, Robert Clive led the Company’s army against
Sirajuddaulah at Plassey. One of the main reasons for
Did you know?
Did you know how Plassey
got its name? Plassey is an
anglicised pronunciation
of Palashi and the place
derived its name from the
palash tree known for its
beautiful red owers that
yield gulal, the powder
used in the festival of Holi.
Fig. 4 – Robert Clive
Puppet – Literally, a toy
that you can move with
strings. The term is used
disapprovingly to refer to
a person who is controlled
by someone else.
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the defeat of the Nawab was that the forces led by Mir Jafar, one
of Sirajuddaulah’s commanders, never fought the battle. Clive had
managed to secure his support by promising to make him nawab after
crushing Sirajuddaulah.
The Battle of Plassey became famous because it was the first major
victory the Company won in India.
Fig. 5 – The General
Court Room, East
India House,
Leadenhall Street
The Court of
Proprietors of the
East India Company
had their meetings
in the East India
House on Leadenhall
Street in London.
This is a picture of
one of their meetings
in progress.
The promise of riches
The territorial ambitions of the mercantile East India
Company were viewed with distrust and doubt in England.
After the Battle of Plassey, Robert Clive wrote to William
Pitt, one of the Principal Secretaries of State to the English
monarch, on 7
January 1759 from Calcutta:
But so large a sovereignty may possibly be an object too
extensive for a mercantile Company … I flatter myself
… that there will be little or no difficulty in obtaining
the absolute possession of these rich kingdoms: ... Now
I leave you to judge, whether an income yearly of two
million sterling with the possession of three provinces
… be an object deserving the public attention ...
Source 1
Fig. 6 – Sirajuddaulah
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14 OUR PASTS – III
After the defeat at Plassey, Sirajuddaulah was
assassinated and Mir Jafar made the nawab. The Company
was still unwilling to take over the responsibility of
administration. Its prime objective was the expansion of
trade. If this could be done without conquest, through the
help of local rulers who were willing to grant privileges,
then territories need not be taken over directly.
Soon the Company discovered that this was rather
difficult. For even the puppet nawabs were not always
as helpful as the Company wanted them to be. After all,
they had to maintain a basic appearance of dignity and
sovereignty if they wanted respect from their subjects.
What could the Company do? When Mir Jafar
protested, the Company deposed him and installed Mir
Qasim in his place. When Mir Qasim complained, he in
turn was defeated in a battle fought at Buxar (1764),
driven out of Bengal, and Mir Jafar was reinstalled.
The Nawab had to pay Rs. 500,000 every month but
the Company wanted more money to finance its wars,
and meet the demands of trade and its other expenses.
It wanted more territories and more revenue. By the
time Mir Jafar died in 1765, the mood of the Company
had changed. Having failed to work with puppet
nawabs, Clive declared: “We must indeed become
nawabs ourselves”.
Finally, in 1765 the Mughal emperor appointed the
Company as the Diwan of the provinces of Bengal. The
Diwani allowed the Company to use the vast revenue
resources of Bengal. This solved a major problem that
the Company had earlier faced. From the early eighteenth
century, its trade with India had expanded. But it had
to buy most of the goods in India with gold and silver
imported from Britain. This was because at this time
Britain had no goods to sell in India. The outflow of
gold from Britain slowed after the Battle of Plassey, and
entirely stopped after the assumption of Diwani. Now
revenues from India could finance Company expenses.
These revenues could be used to purchase cotton and
silk textiles in India, maintain Company troops, and
meet the cost of building the Company fort and offices
at Calcutta.
Company officials become “nabobs”
What did it mean to be nawabs? It meant of course that
the Company acquired more power and authority. But it
also meant something else. Each company servant began
to have visions of living like nawabs.
Source 2
The Nawab
complains
In 1733 the Nawab of
Bengal said this about
the English traders:
When they first came
into the country they
petitioned the then
government in a
humble manner for
liberty to purchase
a spot of ground to
build a factory house
upon, which was no
sooner granted but
they built a strong
fort, surrounded it
with a ditch which
has communication
with the river and
mounted a great
number of guns
upon the walls.
They have enticed
several merchants
and others to go
and take protection
under them and they
collect a revenue
which amounts to
Rs. 100,000… they
rob and plunder and
carry great number
of the king’s subjects
of both sexes into
slavery into their
own country …
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After the Battle of Plassey, the actual nawabs of
Bengal were forced to give land and vast sums of
money as personal gifts to Company officials. Robert
Clive himself amassed a fortune in India. He had come
to Madras (now Chennai) from England in 1743 at
the age of 18. When in 1767 he left India, his Indian
fortune was worth £401,102. Interestingly, when he was
appointed Governor of Bengal in 1764, he was asked
to remove corruption in Company administration but
he was himself cross-examined in 1772 by the British
Parliament which was suspicious of his vast wealth.
Although he was acquitted, he committed suicide
in 1774.
However, not all Company officials succeeded in
making money like Clive. Many died an early death
in India due to disease and war, and it would not be
right to regard all of them as corrupt and dishonest.
Many of them came from humble backgrounds
and their uppermost desire was to earn enough in
India, return to Britain and lead a comfortable life.
Those who managed to return with wealth led flashy
lives and flaunted their riches. They were called
“nabobs” – an anglicised version of the Indian word
nawab. They were often seen as upstarts and social
climbers in British society and were ridiculed or made
fun of in plays and cartoons.
Company Rule Expands
If we analyse the process of annexation of Indian states
by the East India Company from 1757 to 1857, certain
key aspects emerge. The Company rarely launched a
direct military attack on an unknown territory. Instead
it used a variety of political, economic and diplomatic
methods to extend its influence before annexing an
Indian kingdom.
After the Battle of Buxar (1764), the Company
appointed Residents in Indian states. They were
political or commercial agents and their job was to serve
and further the interests of the Company. Through the
Residents, the Company officials began interfering in
the internal affairs of Indian states. They tried to decide
who was to be the successor to the throne, and who was
to be appointed in administrative posts. Sometimes, the
Company forced the states into a “subsidiary alliance”.
According to the terms of this alliance, Indian rulers
were not allowed to have their independent armed
forces. They were to be protected by the Company, but
How did Clive
see himself?
At his hearing in front of
a Committee in Parliament,
Clive declared that he had
shown admirable restraint
after the Battle of Plassey.
This is what he said:
Consider the situation
in which the victory
at Plassey had placed
me! A great prince
was dependent on my
pleasure; an opulent
city lay at my mercy;
its richest bankers bid
against each other for
my smiles; I walked
through vaults which
were thrown open to me
alone, piled on either
hand with gold and
jewels! Mr Chairman,
at this moment I stand
astonished at my
moderation.
Source 3
Imagine that you are a
young Company ofcial
who has been in India
for a few months. Write
a letter home to your
mother telling her about
your luxurious life and
contrasting it with your
earlier life in Britain.
Activity
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16 OUR PASTS – III
Source 4
Fig. 7 – Nawab Shujauddaulah
of Awadh, with his sons and the
British Resident, painted by Tilly
Kettle (oil, 1772)
The treaties that followed the
Battle of Buxar forced Nawab
Shujauddaulah to give up much
of his authority. Here, however,
he poses in regal splendour,
towering over the Resident.
Injunction – Instruction
Subservience –
Submissiveness
had to pay for the “subsidiary forces” that the Company
was supposed to maintain for the purpose of this
protection. If the Indian rulers failed to make the payment,
then part of their territory was taken away as penalty.
For example, when Richard Wellesley was Governor-
General (1798–1805), the Nawab of Awadh was forced
to give over half of his territory to the Company in 1801,
as he failed to pay for the “subsidiary forces”. Hyderabad
was also forced to cede territories on similar grounds.
What power did the Resident have?
This is what James Mill, the famous economist and
political philosopher from Scotland, wrote about the
residents appointed by the Company.
We place a resident, who really is king of the
country, whatever injunctions of non-interference
he may act under. As long as the prince acts in
perfect subservience, and does what is agreeable
to the residents, that is, to the British Government,
things go on quietly; they are managed without the
resident appearing much in the administration of
affairs … but when anything of a different nature
happens, the moment the prince takes a course
which the British Government think wrong, then
comes clashing and disturbance.
James Mill (1832)
Tipu Sultan – The “Tiger of Mysore”
The Company resorted to direct military confrontation when
it saw a threat to its political or economic interests. This
can be illustrated with the case of the southern Indian state
of Mysore.
Mysore had grown in strength under the leadership
of powerful rulers like Haidar Ali (ruled from 1761 to
1782) and his famous son Tipu Sultan (ruled from 1782
to 1799). Mysore controlled the profitable trade of the
Malabar coast where the Company purchased pepper
and cardamom. In 1785, Tipu Sultan stopped the export
of sandalwood, pepper and cardamom through the ports
of his kingdom, and disallowed local merchants from
trading with the Company. He also established a close
Fig. 8 – Tipu Sultan
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relationship with the French in India, and modernised
his army with their help.
The British were furious. They saw Haidar and Tipu
as ambitious, arrogant and dangerous – rulers who had
to be controlled and crushed. Four wars were fought with
Mysore (1767–69, 1780–84, 1790–92 and 1799). Only in
the last – the Battle of Seringapatam – did the Company
ultimately win a victory. Tipu Sultan was killed defending
his capital Seringapatam, Mysore was placed under the
former ruling dynasty of the Wodeyars and a subsidiary
alliance was imposed on the state.
Fig. 10 – Tipu’s toy tiger
This is the picture of a big mechanical toy that Tipu possessed.
You can see a tiger mauling a European soldier. When its handle
was turned, the toy tiger roared and the soldier shrieked. This
toy-tiger is now kept in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.
The British took it away when Tipu Sultan died defending his
capital Seringapatam on 4 May 1799.
Fig. 9 – Cornwallis receiving the
sons of Tipu Sultan as hostages,
painted by Daniel Orme, 1793
The Company forces were
defeated by Haidar Ali and Tipu
Sultan in several battles. But in
1792, attacked by the combined
forces of the Marathas, the Nizam
of Hyderabad and the Company,
Tipu was forced to sign a treaty
with the British by which two
of his sons were taken away
as hostages. British painters
always liked painting scenes that
showed the triumph of
British power.
The legend of Tipu
Kings are often surrounded
by legend and their powers
gloried through folklore.
Here is a legend about Tipu
Sultan who became the
ruler of Mysore in 1782. It
is said that once he went
hunting in the forest with
a French friend. There he
came face to face with a
tiger. His gun did not work
and his dagger fell to the
ground. He battled with
the tiger unarmed until he
managed to reach down
and pick up the dagger.
Finally, he was able to kill
the tiger in the battle. After
this, he came to be known
as the “Tiger of Mysore”. He
had the image of the tiger
on his ag.
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War with the Marathas
From the late eighteenth century, the Company also
sought to curb and eventually destroy Maratha power.
With their defeat in the Third Battle of Panipat in 1761,
the Marathas’ dream of ruling from Delhi was shattered.
They were divided into many states under different chiefs
(sardars) belonging to dynasties such as Sindhia, Holkar,
Gaikwad and Bhonsle. These chiefs were held together
in a confederacy under a Peshwa (Principal Minister)
who became its effective military and administrative head
based in Pune. Mahadji Sindhia and Nana Phadnis were
two famous Maratha soldiers and statesmen of the late
eighteenth century.
The Marathas were subdued in a series of wars.
In the first war that ended in 1782 with the Treaty of
Salbai, there was no clear victor. The Second Anglo-
Maratha War (1803–05) was fought on different
fronts, resulting in the British gaining Orissa and the
territories north of the Yamuna river including Agra and
Delhi. Finally, the Third Anglo-Maratha War of 1817–19
crushed Maratha power. The Peshwa was removed and
sent away to Bithur near Kanpur with a pension. The
Company now had complete control over the territories
south of the Vindhyas.
The claim to paramountcy
It is clear from the above that from the early
nineteenth century, the Company pursued an aggressive
policy of territorial expansion. Under Lord Hastings
(Governor-General from 1813 to 1823), a new policy of
“paramountcy” was initiated. Now the Company claimed
that its authority was paramount or supreme, hence its
power was greater than that of Indian states. In order
to protect its interests, it was justified in annexing or
threatening to annex any Indian kingdom. This view
continued to guide later British policies as well.
This process, however, did not go unchallenged. For
example, when the British tried to annex the small state
of Kitoor (in Karnataka today), Rani Channamma took
to arms and led an anti-British resistance movement.
She was arrested in 1824 and died in prison in 1829.
But Rayanna, a poor chowkidar of Sangoli in Kitoor,
carried on the resistance. With popular support, he
destroyed many British camps and records. He was
caught and hanged by the British in 1830. You will
read more about several cases of resistance later in
the book.
Fig. 11 – Lord Hastings
.
Confederacy – Alliance
Activity
Imagine that you
have come across
two old newspapers
reporting on the Battle
of Seringapatam and the
death of Tipu Sultan.
One is a British paper
and the other is from
Mysore. Write the
headline for each of the
two newspapers.
Fig. 12 – A Statue of the Queen of
Kitoor (Karnataka)
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In the late 1830s, the East India
Company became worried about Russia.
It imagined that Russia might expand
across Asia and enter India from the
north-west. Driven by this fear, the British
now wanted to secure their control over
the north-west. They fought a prolonged
war with Afghanistan between 1838 and
1842, and established indirect Company
rule there. Sind was taken over in 1843.
Next in line was Punjab. But the presence
of Maharaja Ranjit Singh held back the
Company. After his death in 1839, two
prolonged wars were fought with the Sikh
kingdom. Ultimately, in 1849, Punjab
was annexed.
The Doctrine of Lapse
The final wave of annexations occurred
under Lord Dalhousie who was the
Governor-General from 1848 to 1856.
He devised a policy that came to be
known as the Doctrine of Lapse. The
doctrine declared that if an Indian ruler
died without a male heir his kingdom
would “lapse”, that is, become a part
of Company territory. One kingdom
after another was annexed simply by
applying this doctrine: Satara (1848),
Sambalpur (1850), Udaipur (1852), Nagpur (1853) and
Jhansi (1854).
Finally, in 1856, the Company also took over Awadh.
This time the British had an added argument – they said
they were “obliged by duty” to take over Awadh in order to
free the people from the “misgovernment” of the Nawab!
Enraged by the humiliating way in which the Nawab was
deposed, the people of Awadh joined the great revolt that
broke out in 1857.
Fig. 13 – Maharaja Ranjit Singh
holding court
Fig. 14 – A portrait of Veer
Surendra Sai
Activity
Imagine that you are a nawab’s nephew and have been
brought up thinking that you will one day be king. Now
you nd that this will not be allowed by the British
because of the new Doctrine of Lapse. What will be
your feelings? What will you plan to do so that you can
inherit the crown?
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20 OUR PASTS – III
Fig. 14 a, b, c – Expansion of British
territorial power in India
Look at these maps along with a present-day
political map of India. In each of these maps,
try and identify the different parts of India
that were not under British rule.
Fig. 14 a – India, 1797 Fig. 14 b – India, 1840
Fig. 14 c – India, 1857
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Setting up a New Administration
Warren Hastings (Governor-General from 1773 to 1785)
was one of the many important figures who played a
significant role in the expansion of Company power.
By his time the Company had acquired power not only
in Bengal, but also in Bombay and Madras. British
territories were broadly divided into administrative units
called Presidencies. There were three Presidencies: Bengal,
Madras and Bombay. Each was ruled by a Governor. The
supreme head of the administration was the Governor-
General. Warren Hastings, the first Governor-General,
introduced several administrative reforms, notably in the
sphere of justice.
From 1772 a new system of justice was established.
Each district was to have two courts – a criminal court
( faujdari adalat ) and a civil court (diwani adalat). Maulvis
and Hindu pandits interpreted Indian laws for the
European district collectors who presided over civil courts.
The criminal courts were still under a qazi and a mufti
but under the supervision of the collectors.
Qazi – A judge
Mufti – A jurist of the
Muslim community
responsible for
expounding the law
that the qazi would
administer
Impeachment – A trial
by the House of Lords
in England for charges
of misconduct brought
against a person in the
House of Commons
Fig. 15 – The trial of Warren Hastings, painted by R.G. Pollard, 1789
When Warren Hastings went back to England in 1785, Edmund Burke accused him
of being personally responsible for the misgovernment of Bengal. This led to an
impeachment proceeding in the British Parliament that lasted seven years.
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22 OUR PASTS – III
A major problem was that the Brahman pandits gave
different interpretations of local laws based on different
schools of the dharmashastra. To bring about uniformity,
in 1775 eleven pandits were asked to compile a digest
of Hindu laws. N.B. Halhed translated this digest into
English. By 1778, a code of Muslim laws was also compiled
for the benefit of European judges. Under the Regulating
Act of 1773, a new Supreme Court was established, while
a court of appeal – the Sadar Nizamat Adalat – was also
set up at Calcutta.
The principal figure in an Indian district was the
Collector. As the title suggests, his main job was to collect
revenue and taxes and maintain law and order in his
district with the help of judges, police officers and darogas.
His office – the Collectorate – became the new centre of
power and patronage that steadily replaced previous
holders of authority.
The Company army
Colonial rule in India brought in some new ideas of
administration and reform but its power rested on its
military strength. The Mughal army was mainly composed
of cavalry (sawars: trained soldiers on horseback) and
infantry, that is, paidal (foot) soldiers. They were given
training in archery (teer-andazi) and the use of the sword.
The cavalry dominated the army and the Mughal state
did not feel the need to have a large professionally trained
infantry. The rural areas had a large number of armed
peasants and the local zamindars often supplied the
Mughals with paidal soldiers.
A change occurred in the eighteenth century when
Mughal successor states like Awadh and Benaras started
recruiting peasants into their armies and training them
as professional soldiers. The East India Company adopted
the same method when it began recruitment for its own
army, which came to be known as the sepoy army (from
the Indian word sipahi, meaning soldier).
As warfare technology changed from the 1820s, the
cavalry requirements of the Company’s army declined.
This is because the British empire was fighting in
Burma, Afghanistan and Egypt where soldiers were
armed with muskets and matchlocks. The soldiers of
the Company’s army had to keep pace with changing
military requirements and its infantry regiments now
became more important.
In the early nineteenth century, the British began
to develop a uniform military culture. Soldiers were
Here is a passage from
Edmund Burke’s eloquent
opening speech during
the impeachment of
Warren Hastings:
I impeach him in the
name of the people
of India, whose rights
he has trodden under
his foot and whose
country he has turned
into a desert. Lastly in
the name of human
nature itself, in the
name of both the
sexes, in the name
of every age, in the
name of every rank, I
impeach the common
enemy and oppressor
of all.
Source 5
“I impeach the
common enemy and
oppressor of all.”
Dharmashastras –
Sanskrit texts prescribing
social rules and codes
of behaviour, composed
from c. 500 BCE onwards
Sawar – Men on horses
Musket – A heavy gun
used by infantry soldiers
Matchlock – An early
type of gun in which the
powder was ignited by a
match
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FROM TRADE TO TERRITORY 23
increasingly subjected to European-style training, drill
and discipline that regulated their life far more than
before. Often this created problems since caste and
community feelings were ignored in building a force
of professional soldiers. Could individuals so easily
give up their caste and religious feelings? Could they
see themselves only as soldiers and not as members
of communities?
What did the sepoys feel? How did they react to the
changes in their lives and their identity – that is, their
sense of who they were? The Revolt of 1857 gives us a
glimpse into the world of the sepoys. You will read about
this revolt in Chapter 5.
Conclusion
Thus the East India Company was transformed from a
trading company to a territorial colonial power. The arrival
of new steam technology in the early nineteenth century
also aided this process. Till then it would take anywhere
between six and eight months to travel to India by sea.
Steamships reduced the journey time to three weeks
enabling more Britishers and their families to come to a
far-off country like India.
By 1857, the Company came to exercise direct rule
over about 63 per cent of the territory and 78 per cent
of the population of the Indian subcontinent. Combined
with its indirect influence on the remaining territory and
population of the country, the East India Company had
virtually the whole of India under its control.
Fig. 16 – A sawar of Bengal in the
service of the Company, painted
by an unknown Indian artist, 1780
After the battles with the
Marathas and the Mysore
rulers, the Company realised the
importance of strengthening its
cavalry force.
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24 OUR PASTS – III
Let’s recall
1. Match the following:
Diwani Tipu Sultan
“Tiger of Mysore” right to collect land revenue
faujdari adalat Sepoy
Rani Channamma criminal court
sipahi led an anti-British
movement in Kitoor
2. Fill in the blanks:
(a) The British conquest of Bengal began with the
Battle of ___________.
(b) Haidar Ali and Tipu Sultan were the rulers of
___________.
(c) Dalhousie implemented the Doctrine of
___________.
(d) Maratha kingdoms were located mainly in the
___________ part of India.
3. State whether true or false:
(a) The Mughal empire became stronger in the
eighteenth century.
(b) The English East India Company was the only
European company that traded with India.
(c) Maharaja Ranjit Singh was the ruler of Punjab.
(d) The British did not introduce administrative
changes in the territories they conquered.
Let’s imagine
You are living in
England in the late
eighteenth or early
nineteenth century.
How would you have
reacted to the stories
of British conquests?
Remember that you
would have read
about the immense
fortunes that many
of the officials were
making.
Let’s discuss
4. What attracted European trading companies to
India?
5. What were the areas of conflict between the
Bengal nawabs and the East India Company?
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FROM TRADE TO TERRITORY 25
6. How did the assumption of Diwani benefit the
East India Company?
7. Explain the system of “subsidiary alliance”.
8. In what way was the administration of the
Company different from that of Indian rulers?
9. Describe the changes that occurred in the
composition of the Company’s army.
Let’s do
10. After the British conquest of Bengal, Calcutta
grew from small village to a big city. Find out
about the culture, architecture and the life of
Europeans and Indians of the city during the
colonial period.
11. Collect pictures, stories, poems and information
about any of the following – the Rani of Jhansi,
Mahadji Sindhia, Haidar Ali, Maharaja Ranjit
Singh, Lord Dalhousie or any other contemporary
ruler of your region.
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